Imagine you are a traveler in a strange, foreign land with no direction, no map and no idea how to communicate the locals.

That’s how you may feel if you’re planning to watch “Lost” for the first time tonight as the ABC show kicks off season five.

Our advice for you newbies? Best to bone up by renting the DVD box sets. But dedicated fans – you can keep reading.

“Lost” junkies have been waiting eight long months for a new episode – so tonight’s season premiere is cause for celebration. It also presents the chance to rehash and refresh memories of the labyrinthine plots surrounding TV’s favorite castaways.

So (deep breath) here’s our recap:

When last viewers saw the mysterious island, it was vanishing in a blinding flash of light.

The charismatic (and possibly supernatural) evil genius Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) spent the latter part of season four insisting the island be moved to protect it from the less charismatic – though equally evil – industrialist Charles Widmore (Alan Dale).

Longtime viewers may have assumed that Ben wasn’t speaking metaphorically, but no one could have guessed he’d accomplish his goal by turning a giant wooden wheel in a cavern deep beneath the tropical island.

Of course, with the island on vacation in some other part of the world, it’s a lot harder for Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) and company to return.

But destiny isn’t the only thing that needs fixing. Love doesn’t exactly prosper on “Lost” and there are plenty of romances that could use a little TLC.

Juliette (Elizabeth Mitchell) was last seen pouting on the beach with a bottle of rum after Jack’s departure and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) joined her after jumping out of the rescue helicopter to ensure Kate’s escape.

But those sad sacks have it better than Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), who apparently died in the explosion of the freighter.

At least Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) and Penny (Sonya Walger) were finally reunited. And those are just the major plot points – there is a whole horde of minor threads to follow. When we last tuned in, Hurley was playing chess with Mr. Eko’s ghost.

Jack’s dead father Christian was living in a cabin on the island with Claire (Emilie de Ravin), who seemed quite unworried about having passed her baby off to Kate.

Not to mention Daniel’s time traveling weirdness or the Dharma polar bear bones in Tunisia or any of the countless conundrums the show presents in any given episode.

With only two seasons left, the biggest mystery on “Lost” is how the writers will tie everything up. But one thing is certain: however they manage it, the fans will cherish every minute.

But the cool thing about “Lost” is that it usually manages to be a host of different shows at once. If you like Byzantine mythologies, you can’t do better than this dense, nerd-friendly serial (for a refresher course, try this Zap2it guide). As a character drama, well, who hasn’t sniffled at some point during the previous four seasons? Who didn’t get a lump in the throat when Desmond finally had that fateful phone call with his long-lost love Penny in “The Constant,” Season 4’s most deeply affecting (and brain-melting) episode?

The show often excels as an action hour — how slick are the secret-agent adventures of Sayid (Naveen Andrews)? But let’s not forget that it has been an actor’s showcase too. “Lost” is not “Lost” without the grounded, unpretentious dude-ness of Hurley (Jorge Garcia), the strangely naive obsessiveness of John Locke (Terry O’Quinn), the grief of the now-widowed Sun (Yunjin Kim) or the mesmerizing stares of the still-enigmatic Ben Linus (Michael Emerson), one of the most deeply compelling villains on TV.

Oh, and this show, at times, is also really funny. Thank you, Sawyer (Josh Holloway).

Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, the show’s executive producers, are well aware that various viewers of the show, which is entering its fifth and second-to-last season, have differing reasons to tune in.

“It’s always a case of, ‘The porridge is either too hot or too cold’” for various fan groups, Cuse said in a recent phone interview. “We have learned over time that it is impossible to strike the perfect balance between satisfying the mythology fans and satisfying the character fans. So our solution in the season premiere is to provide heavy doses of both.”